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29 September, 2016

FUBAR Magic

Just inspired by a post made by +Scrap Princess, not too long ago. It's not quite the same type of magic system indicated in that post, but a riff on it.

Characters have a range of base magical effects, they each basically add or remove a single trait to the magic's target.

Damage - Add a negative "injured" trait to a person, or a "damaged" trait to an object.

Focus - Add a positive "focused" trait to a person.

Healing - Remove a negative "injured" trait from a person.

Repair - Remove a negative "damaged" trait from an object.

Stealth - Add a positive "hidden" trait to a person or object.

Reveal - Remove a positive "hidden" trait from a person or object.

Horror - Add a negative "scared" trait to a person.

Courage - Remove a negative "scared" trait from a person.

etc...

(Since most actions in FUBAR can add or remove traits like this, we might need to make these effects more "magical" by allowing character to spend magical resources like herbs, crystals, faith or other elements to apply multiple traits with a single invocation, or might apply more potent versions of these traits...the specific elements used to push the magical envelope depend on the type of magic practiced)

Roll 3 six-sided dice as per standard FUBAR rules...allocate them across the categories Success, Sacrifice and Story.

3-4: The outcome from the various "And" and "But" cards is determined randomly

5-6: The caster's player chooses the outcome from the various "And" and "But" cards

The following result cards would be created and placed in two separate piles at the centre of the table. There would probably be a lot more cards in those piles, but these are the first one's I could think of.

"And" result cards
...and it's more widespread than expected (Effect targets all allies or all enemies as appropriate)

...and it lasts longer than expected (Any traits generated by the effect are more long-lived)

...and it's more powerful than expected (A higher benefit or penalty level is applied by the effect)

...and an unexpected side effect makes things easier for an ally (GM determines how this applies)

...and you have become infused by magical energies (You gain a bonus on your next spell this scene)

"But" result cards
...but not yet (GM holds the spell effect in reserve until they decide it would be an interesting time for the effect to manifest)
...but it lasts shorter than expected (Any traits generated by the effect are more short-lived)
...but it has been redirected (GM determines the new target of the effect)
...but you've become weakened in the attempt (Caster gains the "fatigued" trait, or magnifies it if they already have it)

...but the effect has been reversed (If the reversed effect isn't obvious, the GM determines how this applies)
...but something important to you has been lost in the process (GM determines what has been lost)

...but this has made things harder for an ally (GM determines how this applies)

Blog Note

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